Kinder Surprise and the DC Superhero Girls

Down with gendered toys

When Kinder decided to market their Surprise eggs as gender specific – pink or blue with different toys – we stopped buying them. Husband and I are both feminists and we are already fighting an uphill battle trying to make space for the girls to be themselves rather than the “girly” identity retailers, and society, lazily expects.

So Kinder Surprise became a very occasional treat when the traditional, non gendered, eggs came out in between their launches of character tie ins. If the girls were ever offered a gendered version they always went for blue ones (cars, Justice League etc) which tended to have more play potential; Hello Kitty, and the like, tended to be met with disinterest.

Up with something exciting

The latest round of pink and blue tie-ins have involved DC Superhero Girls. For once, the blue were distinctly underwhelming and incredibly, the pink were all female heroes and brilliant. As a parent who has scoured for, and mostly failed to find, female superhero models for my girls I couldn’t believe it. Seven characters, doing cool things, that I knew the girls would adore. Well I do too, who doesn’t like a bit of DC action fantasy? *

Completion

We collected six of them easily but the seventh, Supergirl, was a less easy find. I managed to be quite judicious with how many we bought as I knew from the rattle which had a character in and which had a (boring) superhero bracelet. We still have some duplicates though – if anyone wants one?

They’re all lined up on a shelf for now but the girls have been playing with them a lot. Bravo for exciting female superheroes, though I still dislike the pink/blue split. May other toy makers follow a more permanent, non gendered, suit where both girls and boys can have the opportunity to play with whichever character they’d like. As such, lest Ferrero misguidedly bask in any plaudits, the real breakthrough would have seen these DC Superhero Girls marketed to any child.

From left to right: Cat Woman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Supergirl, Poison Ivy, Katana and Bumblebee. The last two are my favourites.

* I freely admit I am not addressing the historical woeful lack of DC female characters, DC gender separating Superhero Girls from their main offering, the unattainable female bodies portrayed (least they’re not pretending to be real) or the issue of plastic waste. One step at a time.

I’m a huge Harley Quinn fan and all my searches turn up Katana, Wonder Woman ( my doubles have been promised to my daughter when she comes to visit on the 11th ) or Bumblebee. I actually never heard of Bumblebee till the cartoon came out and didn’t even know her name till I read it in this article! The other characters r more well known as they either have their own shows, or were part of a show. If u come across a Harley Quinn, or know of anyone in Canada who does I would so love to have her! Heck even her bracelet I’ll take and turn into a necklace. Would make an amazing addition to my cosplay.